


The Only Two People on the Planet

by kenzz_95



Series: Trektober 2020 [24]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Getting Together, Hand wavey scifi stuff, M/M, Slight AU where they don't know each other but are both still in Starfleet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27194002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenzz_95/pseuds/kenzz_95
Summary: Leonard McCoy finds himself stranded on an empty planet after some weird alien impersonates him and sneaks onto his ship, the Rosalind, in his place. But as it turns out he's not as alone as he first thought, and quickly discovers Jim Kirk, captain of the Enterprise, as suffered the same fate. The two men become fast friends and even more, but relationships are tricky when you think they'll have to be temporary.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Series: Trektober 2020 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948633
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54
Collections: Trektober 2020





	The Only Two People on the Planet

**Author's Note:**

> Trektober Day 25: Stranded on a Planet
> 
> AU where everything is the same except Jim and Bones never met at the Academy and instead met later.

Leonard McCoy hated space. Really. Every time he said that, people were always like, “oh, but you work in space!” as if that had anything to do with anything. Yes, he worked in space. Yes, he liked his job. Yes, he hated space. It was just how it was. He hated space because it was full of weird bullshit, although the weird bullshit he’d inadvertently gotten himself into this time really had more to do with the fact that he wasn’t in space, when he thought about it. Namely, he had been completely left behind on a deserted planet. And he was pissed about it.

His ship, the Rosalind - a science vessel because Leonard pointedly refused any assignment to a heavy cruiser because the last thing he wanted to do was to be involved in a  _ space fight _ \- had responded to a distress call at a nearby planet. A strange twist of miscommunication had led to the Enterprise responding to the same distress call, but their arrival on the planet had not immediately revealed the source of the life signs they were picking up. They split up to scan the area, both ships working in tandem since, well, they were both already there, and that had been the last thing Leonard remembered before being knocked unconscious, waking up just in time to see someone - or some _ thing _ \- that looks suspiciously like him board the Rosaline shuttle and leave. 

Whoever had done this had taken his communicator and his phaser leaving him with nothing more than his medkit, the clothes on his back and the ability to scream at the clouds for his ship to come back, because he was still down here, dammit! That had proved just as fruitless as he figured it would be - although somewhat therapeutic - so he decided to start on the first thing they’d always told him about survival at the Academy and he started looking for water.

He did not find any water, although to be fair to the water that was probably somewhere around here he didn’t look for long because as he was traipsing through a wooded area he quite literally stumbled upon a person lying face down on the ground. A person who was, according to Leonard’s scanners, very much human and very much still alive. And, he realized upon turning the man over, very much so a  _ captain _ . Most likely of the Enterprise, unless another ship had been lured here recently. Well, wasn’t this just great.

The captain in question groaned as Leonard rolled him over, then started to crack his eyes open. Leonard leaned down and ran his tricorder over the man, trying to pick up any major injuries, but the scans were largely clean. A very minor concussion and some bumps and bruises but other than that he was very lucky. Aside from the whole stuck on an empty planet bit, obviously.

“Oh my God,” the man groaned, rubbing at his head and affixing a pair of the bluest eyes Leonard had ever seen on his person. “I was gonna ask if I was in hell or heaven, but with a face like yours it’s pretty obvious.”

Leonard raised his eyebrows, “Is supposed to be a compliment or an insult?”

“Shit, I’ve been wanting to use that line for ages and I fucked it up,” the man complained, pushing himself up slowly to sit. Leonard watched him to make sure he didn’t pass out again. “It’s a compliment, obviously. What happened to me? Who are you? You’re not from my ship.”

“Astute observation, captain.” Leonard put a fair bit of sarcasm behind the rank, “I’m Dr. McCoy, the CMO from the Rosalind. And as for what happened...well, I got knocked out and woke up just in time to see someone who looked exactly like me get on our shuttle and leave. If I had to wager a guess, I’d bet the same thing happened to you. You’ll be fine, bit of a concussion and you’ll be feelin’ this one in your bones for a couple days, but you’ll live.”

“Great, well, I’m Jim Kirk and I think some weird alien bastards stole my ship,” the man - Jim - grumbled, slowly standing up. Leonard rose as well. He didn’t want this guy to fall again, even though he looked fairly steady despite his minor head injury. “Tell me, Dr. ‘feel it in my bones’ McCoy, you got a first name?”

“It’s Leonard.”

“Great, I’m giving you a nickname.”

“I think the hell you aren’t! Wait, where are you going?” he asked because Jim had taken off walking, a tricorder in his hand.

“Rule number of one survival training, Bones, gotta find water!” Jim announced cheerily, not slowing down in the slightest. Leonard took off after him,

“Dammit man, you have a head injury! And don’t call me that.”

“Yeah, well, in my experience dehydration is worse than a mild concussion. And luckily I have a doctor with me in case anything happens. Really, this could all be a lot worse.”

“You think so? ‘Cause the way I look at it, it seems we’re the only sentient life on this entire goddamn planet which we are, may I remind you,  _ stuck on _ with no way to contact our ships and God only knows how long it’ll take them to notice that our alien doppelgangers aren’t actually  _ us _ . Seems pretty bad to me.”

Jim looked back over his shoulder and raised a pair of thick eyebrows at Leonard,

“You always this much of a pessimist?”

“I have been described as a ‘glass half empty’ kinda guy, yes. I prefer to think of myself as a realist.”

“That’s what pessimists say. I say why don’t we just fill the damn glass up instead of fixating on how much is left?”

Leonard only sort of knew what that meant. He decided not to comment. He was following a stranger through the thick red and purple forest of an alien world they were stuck on together, life was weird enough without him trying to figure this guy out too much. With any amount of luck, they wouldn’t be here together for too long before they went their separate ways and the only time he heard anything about Captain Kirk was in some news feed he tried to avoid.

“Okay, Mr. Optimist, you gonna explain to me why this situation doesn’t completely suck?”

“One: this area of the planet has plentiful water and edible plants. Well, I’m sure some of these must be edible. We can do scans later.”

“If you get food poisoning from eating some weird berry I’m not helping you.”

“Thanks for the support. Two: I consider myself to be pretty damn good with strategy and survival and you’re a doctor. We should make an effective team. Three: you are both hot and don’t seem like a total asshole, so the company could be worse.”

Leonard sputtered a bit at that, he wasn’t used to people flirting so bluntly, especially not from someone who looked like he could’ve done the “Starfleet’s Sexiest Captains” calendar all on his own, if such a thing still existed and hadn’t been simply a weird recruitment strategy for a few years in the late ‘40s. 

Jim ignored how taken aback Leonard was and continued, “And  _ fourth _ : we are no more than 30 kilometers from the locations of the crashed alien vessel, the one carrying those...whatever the fuck they were who’re impersonating us. We can totally raid the thing for shelter, hopefully supplies, and maybe even comms.”

“You should’ve led with that one,” Leonard drawled, and Jim just laughed.

There were several problems with Jim Kirk, Leonard realized after spending four days with the man. One: Jim was unfailingly optimistic to the point of annoyance. They had spent four days looking for this alien craft because apparently Jim knew it was about 30 kilometers from where the Enterprise shuttle had landed, but was less confident in the direction. It was either due south, southeast, or southwest. It had not been due south or southeast. Jim was cheery as they made camp that evening, declaring that they’d narrowed it down so now they knew for sure that it was southwest of the Enterprise shuttle landing site! Leonard, on the other hand, was mostly just annoyed that they’d spent the past few days wandering around to no avail. Two: Jim possessed the energy of a golden retriever puppy. He was somehow both a morning and a night person, he didn’t wake up rubbing his feet the morning after they’d walked 30 kilometers for two days in a row, and even when they made camp and Leonard was ready to just collapse Jim somehow still had the energy to go find food for the both of them. Three: Jim was a shameless flirt. Leonard couldn’t tell if he was doing it tongue-in-cheek or if he was being serious, but maybe it was a combination of both. It was a bit disconcerting. Four: Jim was mesmerizingly beautiful and stunningly good looking. Leonard saw those bright blue eyes behind his when he was trying to sleep at night, and Jim really only wore his uniform shirt at night when it was cold and some days he shed his undershirt as well and goddamn was he a sight. This was a problem, but Leonard couldn’t explain why, exactly. Five: Jim was easy to talk to, to the point where it was almost scary. He and Jim would fall into conversation easily as they walked, or cooked, or just sat around the fire Leonard made each evening. His tongue felt looser around Jim, and sometimes they joked around and sometimes they were serious and shared some real meaningful things with each other which, well, would bring Leonard to the sixth thing that was wrong with Jim Kirk: he actually kind of liked the man. Jim was funny, resourceful, cheerful, optimistic, a bit of a nerd, kind, selfless, dreadfully good looking, their senses of humor seemed to mesh perfectly,  _ they  _ seemed to mesh perfectly, and Jim was fast becoming a friend. Which scared the shit out of Leonard because he wasn’t always the best at friendships, especially when they would inevitably end in a separation and  _ especially _ when there was also an attraction involved. It was a problem. Leonard would’ve preferred not to think about it, but that was never his nature so instead he thought about it  _ all the time _ and slowly drove himself insane. Which was just great.

Jim, for all his problems, also happened to be a bit of a genius. On the fifth day, the two men finally found that alien shuttle. As it turns out, the thing had crashed so hard that Leonard was ready to declare it a total wash, but Jim seemed to think he may be able to get comms up. And it actually seemed like he was making progress, despite their lack of universal translators and everything on this ship being in some odd alien language. There was no way in hell this ship would fly again, not without serious repairs and parts they didn’t have, but Jim thought he could get comms up and Leonard found himself trusting the man. So Jim worked on the comms system by day while Leonard cataloged the supplies from the ship or found them food or just tried to help where he could, and by night they slept in the shuttle, talking all evening despite spending all day together. It was...well, good would be a stretch, this whole predicament was still a pain in the ass, but Leonard found himself having a hard time being too frustrated by it when he was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Jim in the evenings, sharing some food, talking, and just being together.

It had been over a week that they’d been stuck here, and they were both getting a bit antsy. Jim would be working on the comm system, get stuck, give up for a few hours, have an idea, then jump back into it at any given time of day. In between, they just sort of...sat around a lot. Getting food and water only took so long, so they made up rules to a few of the games the aliens from this shuttle had brought, and some nights they made a fire just for the hell of it.

“So,” Jim started one evening, sitting back down against an old log next to Leonard after stoking their fire, “What’s a doctor like you doing on a ship like the Rosalind anyways?”

“The Rosalind is a great ship,” Leonard argued. He liked his ship well enough, for a starship that is.   


“Sure, but it’s just a little science vessel. A doctor like you could be anywhere. A major starbase or a heavy cruise would be lucky to have you.”

“You don’t know what kind of doctor I am, maybe I’m not that good.”

“No, that’s not it. You see, Bones, I didn’t put two and two together at first, but I actually remember putting in a transfer request to get you on the Enterprise when I found out my old CMO was going to retire nearly a year ago. And you turned it down, as apparently you’ve turned down every offer that would take you off the Rosalind for years now.”

That information threw Leonard for a loop. He remembered that request, when he thought about it, but it hadn’t stood out at the time. Just another transfer request he wasn’t going to even think about taking.

“Why the hell did you do that anyways?” he asked.

“By a lot of reports, you’re the best CMO in the fleet. I want the best on my ship. Simple as that,” Jim shrugged and Leonard narrowed his eyes, a realization dawning on him that he wasn’t sure he liked,

“So you’re just flirting with me to try to get me on your ship then?”

“What? No!” Jim all but squacked, not at all the dignified captain Starfleet liked to paint him as. But that was kind of one of the things Leonard liked about the man. “Firstly, I was beginning to worry you were too oblivious to notice I’ve been flirting with you for over a week. And second, of course that’s not what it’s about. Me wanting you to get in my pants and me wanting you to get on my ship are completely separate issues. So, that being said, I’ll ask again. What’s a doctor like you doing on a little science vessel like the Rosalind?”

“Look, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a soldier. I ain’t tryin’ to get in battles with the Klingons or whatever the fuck. I’m a scientist, first and foremost. And a pacifist.”

“Well, Bones, the Enterprise isn’t a war ship and Starfleet is an exploration and peace keeping agency, we don’t exactly go looking for trouble.”

“I know that,” Leonard rolled his eyes, “I went to the Academy, same as you did, but regardless of if you’re ‘looking for trouble’ you sure seem to find it a lot.”

“Sure, but think of how much good you could do! Not just on my ship, but any heavy cruiser. The crew complement is what, 10 times that of a science vessel, our medical labs are state of the art, we’re at the forefront of bringing medical aid to Federation member planets and new worlds…”

“I have aviophobia,” he admitted, cutting Jim off because Jim wasn’t going to stop trying to sell this was he? Maybe this would shut the guy up. He liked the man, but damn he was persistent. 

“Huh?” Jim knit his brows together. There was a little crease between them that Leonard wanted to smooth out. He ignored the instinct.

“It means I’m afraid of flying. And space.”

“I know what it means, but Bones, Starfleet operates in space. You work on a starship.”   


“Oh my God, really, how come nobody told me?” Leonard drawled and Jim laughed, a beautiful little sound. “Look, I figured the Rosalind would be easy. Help me get my feet wet after the Academy. It’s been four years, but  I suppose I just got used to it.”

“Well, maybe it’s time you stop resting on your laurels and push your comfort zone again. You could do a lot of good on a bigger ship.” There was something so open and earnest in Jim’s eyes that made Leonard feel like there was more to what he said than what was on the surface.

“What, like the Enterprise?”   


“I never said that.”

There were a few beats of silence, and then suddenly they were kissing, both moving in at the same time and pressing their lips together. As it turns out, Jim Kirk kissed the same way he seemed to approach everything: with passion, energy, and enthusiasm, all in from the start. Leonard moved his lips down to Jim’s neck, kissing the soft skin near his collarbone, and then Jim started talking,

“Shit, Bones, you’re so damn good at this. Can’t believe we could’ve been doing this all week. Fuck, I wasn’t flirting with you to try to get you on my ship. I’ve been flirting with you because you’re sarcastic and smart and kind and  _ really fucking hot _ and…”

“You always talk this much?” Leonard interrupted, mumbling the words into Jim’s neck then pulling the other man down, so they were lying next to the fire, all wrapped up in each other.

“I have been told I’m too talkative during sex.”

“Oh, is that what we’re doing?”

“Well, if you want…” Jim suddenly looked sheepish, a look that Leonard felt like he didn’t show easily. For it, he pulled Jim’s shirt off and pressed their lips together again.

“Yeah it’s what I want. And don’t quit talking, darlin’, I like hearing your voice.”

If the way Jim shuddered against his body was any indication, the feeling was mutual.

Leonard would say that he and Jim were hooking up, but only because he wanted to put some emotional distance between him and whatever was going on between the two of them. The thing was, he was also participating in some pretty next level denial because he wasn’t even fooling himself. If they were simply hooking up to pass the time, they probably wouldn’t be falling asleep in each others’ arms on the shuttle floor, or cuddling in front of the fire on quiet evenings, or kissing without a hint of sexual intent behind it. Leonard has been in romantic relationships before, obviously, he’d been married, so he knew what they looked and felt like, and he knew that just because he and Jim hadn’t talked about it and couldn’t properly take each other out that didn’t make this any less a relationship. The only problem was that  _ eventually _ they would be getting off this planet, going their separate ways on separate starships, so getting emotionally invested was a  _ terrible _ idea. But that didn’t change the fact that Leonard was emotionally invested, regardless of how much he tried to pretend he wasn’t. 

And they were going to get out of there, too. Jim had gotten the comm system up, because he was brilliant and amazing, but apparently subspace was completely shot so they only had short range comms, which limited them to this sector. Jim had set up a repeating distress call across all Federation channels, so it was only a matter of time before someone heard it. There wasn’t a lot in this sector, though, so it was taking a while. All in all, they’d been here for over three weeks. But they’d be getting off, and hopefully soon.

They got the message as they were making out lazily on the floor of the shuttle, but despite what they were doing and where they were going, Jim was on his feet in an instant when he heard the comm system buzz.

“This is the USS Laika responding to the all channels distress call. Please respond.”

Leonard’s heart leapt in a way that it hadn’t in nearly a month at the sound of that voice. Sure, he was happy to be with Jim, but he wanted off this damn planet. 

Jim fumbled with the equipment for a second, too excited to really make his hands work correctly. Leonard’s were steadier, so he slipped the headset over Jim’s ears and received a brilliant and excited smile in return.

“Hello, Laika, I can’t tell you how good it is to hear your voice. This is Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise, here with Dr. Leonard McCoy of the USS Rosalind. We’ve been trapped alone on Epsilon III for nearly a month now, and if you could be so kind as to come get us we’d really appreciate it.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, almost as though the comms officer was conferring with a superior. Then, finally, just when Leonard started worrying the connection had broken up, the voice returned,

“For confirmation purposes, I will be needing security codes from both of you.”

“You need a security code to pick us up? Whatever,” Jim rolled his eyes then recited his before handing the headset to Leonard, who did the same. 

“We can be at your location in less than 20 hours. Standby to transmit your location for beam up at that time. We will inform your respective ships that you have been located. They will be very relieved.”

“I know you're just the messenger, but please tell me my ship hasn’t been being run by some weird ass alien impersonator for weeks,” Jim requested, sounding suddenly tired, as though the prospect of rescue had made the past few weeks catch up with him all at once. 

“Uh, no. As far as I can understand the situation, the imposters were discovered fairly quickly, but claimed to be inhabiting your bodies. Command has been trying to get information about how to get you back ever since. There will be a great many people relieved to hear that you are both alive, well, and yourselves.”

“Thank you,” Jim nodded, “From the both of us, thank you. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Kirk out.”

“Oh thank God,” Leonard exhaled deeper than he had in over three weeks, leaning back against the wall of the shuttle they’d called home for the past couple weeks. Jim slumped in the seat at comms, releasing the same kind of tension.

“I told you they’d come for us,” Jim pointed out.   


“Thanks to you. If you hadn’t gotten comms up, who knows how long it would've taken for them to realize we might still be out here somewhere. 

“Yeah, well, I would’ve poisoned myself at least a dozen times if it weren’t for you. We make a good team, Bones.”

“Can’t argue with you on that one, Jim.”

“So,” Jim started, getting up to stand next to Leonard, the two men shoulder to shoulder. “That’s just it then? A weird few weeks and we go our separate ways?”

“‘Suppose so,” Leonard grumbled, because he wasn’t happy about that either, but what could be done? That was why he’d told himself that he should absolutely not get feelings involved with what the two of them were doing, even though he completely failed at that.

“What would you say about transferring to the Enterprise?” Jim offered and Leonard’s heart stopped. He was by no means going to make such a massive change all for a guy he hadn’t even known for a month, despite it feeling like longer as they’d practically spent every waking moment together since getting here. 

“I’d say your current CMO would probably be quite put out about that.”

“I don’t have a CMO, actually. Just an acting CMO who refuses to commit to the position permanently because he hates the administrative side so much.”

“Okay, now I’m concerned about the implications of you not being able to find a proper CMO in a year since your last one retired.”

“First of all, it’s been six months,” Jim corrected him. He seemed very put out over the implication that there was something wrong with his ship or his crew. “I found out my old CMO was retiring 6 months before he actually did. And second of all, it’s not just about finding a good doctor, there’s plenty of good doctors in Starfleet. The Enterprise crew is like a family, I need to find someone I think will fit into that.”

“And what makes you assume that I will?”

“I dunno, we get along pretty well, I think.”

“Okay, and let’s just say I did it,” Leonard said and God he couldn’t believe he was actually entertaining this thought. He couldn’t believe it. But ridiculous as it was, Jim Kirk had wormed his way right into Leonard’s heart over the past few weeks, and it was true, neither of them were ready to let go of that. “Let’s say I take the jump, step out of my comfort zone as you said. What happens to us then? You gonna explain to your crew that you’re giving a senior crew position to the guy you spent two weeks hooking up with on an abandoned planet?”

Jim recoiled a bit at that, and Leonard didn’t know why. Fortunately Jim quickly explained, looking down at the floor and saying, “Bones, I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Oh, and there it was again, Leonard’s heart had stopped. That couldn’t possibly be good for his health.

“You’re just sayin’ that because I’m the only sentient being you’ve seen in over three weeks.”

“What, so are you telling me you don’t feel the same way then?”

It probably would’ve been easier for the both of them, in the long term, if he could say he didn’t, but he just couldn’t. He’d never been a great liar about stuff that mattered, stuff like this. So instead he said nothing.

“Look,” Jim continued, not deterred by Leonard’s silence, “We’re friends, we work well together, worst case scenario we have that, best case scenario maybe this keeps going somewhere. You’re a great doctor, nobody will question whether you’re qualified for the position, especially when I tried to get you before I even met you. I could be alone in this, but I feel like we’d be doing ourselves a disservice to not try to figure out where this is going.”

“You’re not alone in this,” Leonard finally admitted, “I have feelings for you too, Jim. And I think maybe,  _ maybe _ it might be time for a change.”

Jim’s eyes lit up, bright and bold and oh so beautiful and God, Leonard wanted to do anything for that smile. Even transferring to a bigger ship and risking fire fights and dealing with reckless adventurers all day. “Oh, you’re gonna love it, Bones! The Enterprise is amazing! Like I said, the most advanced medical labs in the fleet…”   


“Okay, okay, I get it,” Leonard rolled his eyes with quite a bit of affection, “I already agreed to it, you don’t have to keep selling me on it.”   


“There something you want me to do instead?” Jim asked, eyebrows raised in a challenge. Leonard snorted and shoved him on the shoulder, but kissed him anyways,

“I can think of far better things for us to be doin’ our last night here, can you?”

Jim shuddered and laughed a little under his lips, and Leonard smiled into Jim’s, allowing himself to appreciate the fact that this didn’t have a definitive end date anymore. Maybe it wouldn’t have one at all, but that was probably a concern for another time.

**Author's Note:**

> A fun fact about me is that I love naming fake starships but hate naming fake planets. Here, Bones' ship the Rosalind is named after Rosalind Franklin, who was instrumental in the discovery of DNA, may she be even more recognized for her work in the future, and the ship that rescues them, the Laika, is named for the first dog in space, may her spirit live among the stars forever.


End file.
